Hell City founder Durb Morrison loves Columbus. Where else could a tattoo festival like Hell City begin and flourish, he said during a recent interview with Alive.

But Morrison also makes a point to not feature a lot of Columbus-based tattoo artists at his ever-growing festival. That’s not to say local artists aren’t involved in Hell City, but the lack of local talent is for a good reason.

“I want the festival to be about bringing in tattoo artists Columbus natives can’t get tattooed by otherwise, not somebody who works down the street,” Morrison said.

So this week’s cover story focuses on five Columbus tattoo artists we think deserve a little bit of spotlight. The artists run the gamut from a veteran of the scene who’s returning to prominence to a Columbus newcomer with national and international clout. We could’ve included a dozen more.

And to illustrate Hell City’s illustrious return to Columbus for our cover, we convinced someone (Dominik “Dommer” Capuano, you brave man) to immortalize our fair city with knuckle tats. Because, in the parlance of Dick’s Den’s famous window signage, why not? Big ups to Long Street Collective’s Andy Johnson for the work.